Clinton Wants Entertainment Violence Studied

Washington -- President Clinton put the entertainmentindustry on the defensive last week by ordering a federal investigation into theindustry's marketing of violent products to children.

In a Rose Garden ceremony last Tuesday, Clinton announcedthat the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission would probe thecommercials and promotions of the movie, music and video-game industries.

Specifically, the probe is designed to determine whetherviolent movies, compact discs and video games rated for adult consumers are actually beingmarketed to children.

Clinton said the probe should also determine whether theadvertising is designed to undermine age-based rating systems. He called on retail vendorsand movie-chain owners to enforce ratings at the point of sale.

"Check the IDs, draw the line," Clinton said."If underage children are buying violent video games or getting into R-rated movies,the rating system should be enforced to put a stop to it."

Clinton said children are awash in gratuitous fantasyviolence that is harmful to their emotional development and that spurs vulnerable childrento commit real violent acts.

Doug Lowenstein, president of the Interactive DigitalSoftware Association, the video-game industry's chief Washington lobbyist, disputedthe idea that violent games can trigger aggression in children. He said the vast majorityof titles "involve little or no significant violence."

Because nine out of 10 video games are purchased by adults,Lowenstein added, the burden is on parents to supervise the video-game consumption oftheir children.

"Keeping games not appropriate for children out oftheir hands starts and ends at home," Lowenstein said in a prepared statement. TheIDSA vowed to cooperate with the DOJ-FTC probe.

The investigation is expected to take between one year and18 months to complete, and to cost about $1 million. FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky said hisagency would, if necessary, use its subpoena power to obtain internal marketing recordsfrom companies.

Clinton's announcement represented a major break withHollywood -- a fertile source of money for his two presidential campaigns. But Clintondecided to take a stand against violent products aimed at children after two teens killed13 people at a Colorado high school in April before committing suicide.

Motion Picture Association of America president JackValenti -- the voluble Hollywood lobbyist who seldom declines a media request -- refusedto comment on Clinton's order. Following a May 10 White House summit on youthviolence, Valenti said he found the presumption of guilt surrounding Hollywood to be anannoyance.

Clinton called for the investigation three weeks after theSenate voted 98-0 to demand an identical probe.